By Ryan Dombal on February 18, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. EST

Photo by Nicholas Kahn

The new album from epic rockers Shearwater is called The Golden Archipelago and it's out now in Europe and online. (It comes out everywhere else on Tuesday, February 23.) To celebrate, there's a gorgeous, golden new video for album cut "Hidden Lakes" that follows a vagabond and his very tiny, very cute dog as they face some serious trouble. The video was directed by Alma Har'el and you can watch it below. (Via Matador.)

By Tom Breihan on February 3, 2010 at 1:35 p.m. EST

Unknown Pleasures, the 1979 album from Joy Division, is already a pretty dark and unhinged piece of work; more than 30 years after its release, "She's Lost Control" still reliably raises goosebumps. But in a couple of months, the album could possibly get even darker and more unhinged. That's because art-pop titans Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu are teaming up to cover the LP live in its entirety.

The big event will take place April 29 in Krems, Austria as part of Donaufestival, which runs April 28-May 8. Other performers include Panda Bear, Dan Deacon, Rufus Wainwright, Fuck Buttons, Wolf Parade, Peaches, and Alec Empire and the Ex.

In other Xiu Xiu news, Jamie Stewart has teamed up with Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg to form a band called Blue Water, White Death. Their debut album, Gail, was produced by the Paper Chase's John Congleton and will be released on Graveface.

By Tom Breihan on January 4, 2010 at 6:20 p.m. EST

-- As a companion piece to the forthcoming Shearwater album The Golden Archipelago, Shearwaterfrontman Jonathan Meiburg and designer Mark Ohe have made a full-color, 75-page dossier, a "visual guide to the world of the album." But the dossier costs a lot to print, so the band is using the fundraising website Kickstarter to raise money to create it. Anyone contributing $30 or more gets a copy. You can see photos of the dossier at the Matablog. (Full disclosure: Pitchfork publisher Chris Kaskie is a Kickstarter investor.)

-- Over the course of last year, Asthmatic Kitty released four EPs of remixes of material from My Brightest Diamond's album A Thousand Shark's Teeth. On January 26, the label will release those collected EPs as a limited edition double-CD called Shark Remixes. Only 1500 copies will exist, and My Brightest Diamond frontwoman Shara Worden will sign every one of them. The remixes come courtesy of Alfred Brown, DMStith, Son Lux and Savath and Savalas's Roberto Carlos Lange.

-- Like Voltron, the members of the Seattle bands A-Frames and Climax Golden Twins have combined to form a super-band called AFCGT. On January 26, Sub Pop will release their self-titled album. Right-click here to download the album track "Two-Legged Dog".

-- Another new band alert: Underground rap producer Nick Andre (Gift of Gab, Lyrics Born), Desaparecidos and Statistics member Denver Dalley, and Andy Fitts of Aqueduct have formed the synthpop group City Light. The band will release their debut album, Burned Out Bright, on January 26.

By Tom Breihan on November 18, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. EST

The Matablog reports that album number six from luminous indie-prog travelers Shearwater will is due in 2010. The Golden Archipelago will arrive February 23 in North America and February 15 internationally, via Matador.